Highest ocean heat in four centuries places Great Barrier Reef in danger

NEWS - Australia’s Great Barrier Reef is facing critical danger from back-to-back extreme ocean heatwaves. The latest 400-year temperature record shows the ecosystem is facing catastrophic damage as warming sea temperatures and mass coral bleaching events threaten to devastate the ecology, biodiversity and beauty of the world’s largest coral reef.

Ocean temperatures in the Coral Sea are at their highest in four centuries. Researchers drilled into coral skeletons from within and around them to analyse the chemical makeup of the samples to reconstruct sea surface temperatures from 1618 to 1995, alongside modern instrumental sea level measurements spanning 1900 to 2024.

Ocean temperatures in the region were relatively stable before 1900, but from 1960 to 2024 they have been rising relentlessly. The increase is linked to human greenhouse gas emissions, the team found. The years 2016, 2017, 2020, 2022 and 2024 were all warmest on record, with temperatures up to 1C warmer than average. Every year, mass bleaching events occur during the warmest months of January to March.

“The Great Barrier Reef is an icon,” says Benjamin Henley of the University of Melbourne in Australia.

Highest ocean heat in four centuries places Great Barrier Reef in danger 2

Global warming threatens up to 90 percent of the world’s coral reefs. UNESCO designated the reef a World Heritage Site in 1981. The UN agency had considered adding the reef to its World Heritage in Danger list. In 2023, UNESCO delayed the move because of the Australian government’s pledge to improve protection.

“The more emissions we reduce now, the better it will be not just for the Great Barrier Reef, but for society,” says Helen McGregor of the University of Wollongong in Australia.

Original research

Henley, B.J., McGregor, H.V., King, A.D. et al. Highest ocean heat in four centuries places Great Barrier Reef in danger. Nature 632, 320–326 (2024). DOI:10.1038/s41586-024-07672-x

Dry Valleys on Antarctic continent is the driest place in the world

The Sahara Desert is the largest desert in the world, rainfall is very low, only stretches of sand and rocks without rivers and plants further strengthen the view of drought. However, it turns out that the place is not the driest place in the world. Dry Valleys in Antarctica, although the continent is covered in ice, but has one part that is completely dry. Although the average rainfall in most of the Sahara Desert is less than 20 millimeters per year, there are still drier places. Dry Valleys in Antarctica is much drier where the average rainfall is 0 millimeters per year and gets the title of the driest place in the world. The valleys have so low humidity that there is almost no ice. This is the largest ice free place on the Antarctic continent. The area is surrounded by mountains that block ice from flowing into the valley. Drought is also caused by strong katabalic gusts from mountain peaks where cold air blows down the hill due to gravity. The wind has speeds of up to 322 k...

Humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) manufacture bubble-nets as tools to increase prey intake

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Tripa tiger moth (Nannoarctia tripartita)

Tripa tiger moth ( Nannoarctia tripartita ) is an animal species in the Erebidae, a moth with a forewing length of 14-18 mm, predominantly black or dark brown with white and orange hues, thick fur on the dorsal surface, long legs and antennae, living in forest scrub and agricultural land. N. tripartita in females has forewings 15-18 mm long, black or dark brown with slightly oblique transverse and few spots. The hind wings are yellow with large dark discal points and three other dots. Males have forewings 14-17 mm long, black or dark brown with transverse oblique postdiscal bands and several spots. The hind wings are yellow with brown costal margins, discal confluent points, wide ridges on the crest and angular points in the tornus. The head has a thin orange pattern and a pair of long black antennae. Long legs are black. Tripa tiger moths live in forest scrub, farmland and roadsides. More stationary by sticking to the leaf surface at the top. Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Arthropod...

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